Province of Saxony

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Prussian Province of
Saxony
flag coat of arms
Flag - national colors of the Prussian province of Saxony Province coat of arms
Situation in Prussia
Red: Location of the Province of Saxony in Prussia (blue)
Consist 1815–1944 and 1945
Provincial capital Magdeburg (seat of the upper president)
surface 25,529 km² (1939)
Residents 3,618,458 (1939)
Population density 142 inhabitants / km²
License Plate IN THE
Arose from Duchy of Magdeburg , Altmark , and parts of Saxony , Kingdom of Westphalia
Incorporated into Halle-Merseburg , Province of Magdeburg , Thuringia
Today part of Saxony-Anhalt , Thuringia , Saxony , Brandenburg , Lower Saxony
map
Province map

The Province of Saxony was a Prussian province, between the Kingdom of Hanover (from 1866 Province of Hanover ), Duchy of Braunschweig , Electorate of Hesse (from 1866 Province of Hessen-Nassau ), the ten (later eight) Thuringian states and the Kingdom of Saxony and the Prussian Province of Brandenburg located. It was almost split into a northern and southern half by the Duchy of Anhalt, which consisted of several parts . The provincial capital was Magdeburg . The historical province of Saxony essentially corresponds to today's federal state of Saxony-Anhalt (without Anhalt), the north of Thuringia (with Erfurt, Eichsfeld, Nordhausen and Mühlhausen) and parts of the former county of Henneberg (with Suhl and Schleusingen) as well as parts of today's south-western Brandenburg ( South Fleming and Elbe-Elster-Land ) and north-western Saxony (from parts of the district of North Saxony ).

History (general)

In this centrally located province, the Kingdom of Prussia united its old property on the middle Elbe ( Altmark , Magdeburg , Halberstadt , Mansfeld , Quedlinburg ), lost in 1807 and regained in the Wars of Liberation up to 1815 , with the acquisitions of 1802 ( Eichsfeld , Erfurt , also lost in 1807) , Mühlhausen and Nordhausen ) with most of the former royal Saxon territories that were awarded to him at the Congress of Vienna and referred to as the "Duchy of Saxony" . Due to its central position as the westernmost of the "seven eastern provinces of the kingdom", this province bordered no fewer than 18 member states of the German Confederation (1815, 1864 at least 14), including all Thuringian states, but above all the kingdoms of Hanover and Saxony, as well as to Kurhessen, Braunschweig (with the office Calvörde , Blankenburg and Kernland) and the Anhalt duchies.

The province - especially in Thuringia - included numerous exclaves, including the Schleusingen and Ziegenrück districts , which meant that there was even a short common border with Bavaria (Blankenberg and Sparnberg exclaves).

While the more densely populated south and the provincial capital Magdeburg were home to numerous companies in the metal and textile industry, and later also the chemical industry, agriculture predominated in the Magdeburg area and in the Altmark, in some cases with special crops such as sugar beet in the fertile Magdeburg Börde .

The Duchy of Magdeburg emerged from the secular domain of the Archbishop of Magdeburg . According to the provisions of the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, after the death of the last administrator, Duke August von Sachsen-Weißenfels , this territory, which had long since become Lutheran, was secularized in 1680 and awarded as a duchy to the Elector of Brandenburg (as compensation for the lost claim to Western Pomerania ) .

In mid-1944 the province of Saxony was divided into the provinces of Magdeburg and Halle-Merseburg , while the administrative district of Erfurt was subordinated to the administration of the Reich governor in Thuringia. In 1945 the province of Saxony was re-established as the "Province of Saxony-Anhalt" by merging the provinces of Magdeburg and Halle-Merseburg with the state of Anhalt. The dissolution of the Prussian state through the Control Council Act No. 46 then resulted in the constitution of the state of Saxony-Anhalt . The state capital became Halle.

The borders of the province of Saxony in the ecclesiastical area lasted longest in the form of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony of the Evangelical Church , which existed until the end of 2008.

Area and population development

In May 1939, 3,618,458 inhabitants lived in an area of ​​25,529 square kilometers.

year Residents
1816 1,180,413
1843 1,614,492
1871 2.103.174
1880 2,312,007
1890 2,580,010
1900 2,832,616
1910 3,089,275
1925 3,277,476
1933 3,400,592
1939 3,618,458

Administrative history

The province of Saxony was formed in 1815 and received the rank of duchy. It essentially comprised the areas of Magdeburg and Halberstadt, which belonged to Prussia before 1800, the former imperial cities Mühlhausen and Nordhausen and Erfurt (previously subordinated to the French Emperor as the Principality of Erfurt since 1807 ) which came to Prussia in 1802, and also those from the Kingdom of Saxony to Prussia assigned areas Wittenberg, Merseburg, Naumburg, Mansfeld, Querfurt and Henneberg with their surrounding areas (list is not exhaustive) . Other areas of Saxony that were also ceded to Prussia (especially the Lower and northeastern Upper Lusatia) were assigned to the provinces of Silesia and Brandenburg . The Altmark (between 1807 and 1813 in the Kingdom of Westphalia) including the former Hanoverian exclaves around Klötze were incorporated into the new province of Saxony . In 1932 it still received the once Hanoverian areas around Ilfeld and Elbingerode. In 1941 there was an exchange of territory: the province of Saxony gave up the town of Hornburg and the communities of Isingerode and Roklum and received the patch of Hesse and the previously Brunswick part of Pabstorf from the Free State of Braunschweig .

The province of Saxony essentially consisted of two parts spatially separated by the Duchy of Anhalt and had several exclaves. It had three administrative districts (Magdeburg, Merseburg and Erfurt). On July 1, 1944, the Hesse-Nassau district of Herrschaft Schmalkalden was incorporated into the administrative district of Erfurt and subordinated to the Reich governor in Thuringia, as well as the remaining province of Saxony divided into the two provinces of Magdeburg and Halle-Merseburg . Just one year later, on the orders of the Colonel-Commander of the Soviet Military Administration, the provinces of Halle-Merseburg and Magdeburg with the State of Anhalt and the parts of the State of Braunschweig (around Blankenburg and Calvörde ) belonging to the Soviet occupation zone became a single area, the Province of Saxony, merged and these divided into the three administrative districts Magdeburg, Merseburg and Dessau. A small exception was the municipality of Preußisch Offleben, which belongs to the district of Haldensleben and which was structurally integrated with the neighboring Brunswick municipality of Offleben and was incorporated into it. In 1946 it was renamed the Province of Saxony-Anhalt and in 1947 the State of Saxony-Anhalt . The latter became part of the GDR when the GDR was founded on October 7, 1949 ; it was dissolved again in July 1952 with the regional reform in the GDR . This essentially resulted in the Halle and Magdeburg districts. Some former Saxon areas in the east (including Delitzsch, Eilenburg, Torgau and Schkeuditz as early as 1950) were incorporated into the Leipzig district, which was created from the state of Saxony (was divided into three districts) , while other parts (Schweinitz and Liebenwerda districts) were incorporated into the Cottbus district .

After reunification in 1990, the state of Saxony-Anhalt was rebuilt with slightly changed borders, essentially from the districts of Halle and Magdeburg (state capital), see Saxony-Anhalt .

Administrative division of the Province of Saxony (until 1944)

Magdeburg administrative district

City districts

  1. Aschersleben (1901–1950)
  2. Castle (1924–1950)
  3. Halberstadt (1817–1825 and 1891–1950)
  4. Magdeburg
  5. Quedlinburg (1911–1950)
  6. Stendal (1909–1950)

Counties

  1. Calbe a./S.
  2. Guards
  3. Halberstadt
  4. Haldensleben
  5. Jerichow I
  6. Jerichow II
  7. Oschersleben (Bode)
  8. Osterburg
  9. Quedlinburg
  10. Salzwedel
  11. Stendal
  12. Wanzleben
  13. Wernigerode (from 1900 to 1932 Wernigerode county)
  14. Wolmirstedt

Merseburg administrative district

City districts

  1. Eisleben (1908–1950)
  2. Halle ad Saale
  3. Merseburg (1921–1950)
  4. Naumburg ad Saale (1914–1950)
  5. Weißenfels (1899–1950)
  6. Wittenberg (Lutherstadt) (1922–1950)
  7. Zeitz (1901–1950)

Counties

  1. Bitterfeld
  2. Delitzsch
  3. Eckartsberga (seat: Kölleda)
  4. Liebenwerda
  5. Mansfeld mountain range
  6. Mansfeld Lake District
  7. Merseburg
  8. Naumburg
  9. Querfurt
  10. Hall circle
  11. Sangerhausen
  12. Schweinitz
  13. Torgau
  14. Weissenfels
  15. Wittenberg
  16. Time

Administrative district of Erfurt

City districts

  1. Erfurt (1816–1818, since 1872)
  2. Mühlhausen (1892–1950)
  3. Nordhausen (1882–1950)

Counties

  1. Erfurt (until 1932)
  2. Grafschaft Hohenstein ( District Office in Nordhausen )
  3. Heiligenstadt
  4. Langensalza
  5. Mulhouse
  6. Schleusingen
  7. Weissensee
  8. Worbis
  9. Ziegenrück

politics

Chief President

Governors

Provincial Parliament

  • 1921: SPD 22.7% - 25 seats | DNVP 19.1% - 21 seats | KPD 17.3% - 19 seats | DVP 14.6% - 16 seats | USPD 10.9% - 12 seats | DDP 10.0% - 11 seats | Center 3.6% - 4 seats | Landbund 1.8% - 2 seats
  • 1925: SPD 29.7% - 34 seats | NOB 17.3% - 20 seats | KPD 15.4% - 18 seats | DNVP 10.7% - 12 seats | Work and order 6.7% - 7 seats | DDP 4.8% - 5 seats | Center 3.9% - 4 seats | DNVP / Landbund 3.4% - 4 seats | Savers and retirees 2.2% - 3 seats | DVP 1.6% - 2 seats | DSP 1.2% - 2 seats | DFVP 1.1% - 1 seat | WP 0.9% - 1 seat
  • 1929: SPD 31.1% - 37 seats | DNVP 14.9% - 17 seats | KPD 13.7% - 16 seats | DVP 8.6% - 10 seats | WP 6.1% - 8 seats | NSDAP 5.8% - 7 seats | DDP 4.1% - 5 seats | Center 3.8% - 5 seats | CNBL 2.9% - 4 seats | Landbund 2.5% - 4 seats
  • 1933: NSDAP 48.1% - 54 seats | SPD 21.4% - 25 seats | KPD 12.8% - 15 seats | DNVP 13.5% - 14 seats | Center 3.7% - 5 seats
    (100% missing votes = nominations not represented in the provincial assembly.)

literature

  • Pestalozziverein der Provinz Sachsen (Hrsg.): The Province of Saxony in words and pictures . Published by Julius Klinkhardt, Berlin 1900 (Reprint: Naumburger Verlagsanstalt, 1990, ISBN 3-86156-007-0 )

Web links

Commons : Province of Saxony  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Statistical Yearbook for the German Reich 1939/40 (digitized version).
  2. ^ Christian Gottfried Daniel Stein: Handbook of Geography and Statistics of the Prussian State . Vossische Buchhandlung, Berlin 1819, The administrative district of Magdeburg, p. 326 ( digitized version [accessed on May 5, 2016]).
  3. ^ Handbook of the Province of Saxony . Rubachsche Buchhandlung, Magdeburg 1843, Neustadt-Magdeburg, p. 79 ( digitized version [accessed June 6, 2016]).
  4. ↑ Michael Rademacher: German administrative history from the unification of the Reich in 1871 to the reunification in 1990. p_sachsen.html. (Online material for the dissertation, Osnabrück 2006).